Two come-ons that I hate, have subject lines with things similar to these:
- "Shhhh! This Is a Secret Sale" Right. Only I and about a million other people will be told about it.
- "We've handpicked these just for you." I'm so touched, they've selected these particular items just for me!

Yeah, I believe them (but I also believe that man going to the moon was really just an elaborate hoax).

Two come-ons that I hate, have subject lines with things similar to these:
- "Shhhh! This Is a Secret Sale" Right. Only I and about a million other people will be told about it.
- "We've handpicked these just for you." I'm so touched, they've selected these particular items just for me!

Yeah, I believe them (but I also believe that man going to the moon was really just an elaborate hoax).

But you are truly special to us, Dr. Drib. Really.

You mean it wasn't real?

I suppose you'll now say John Carter never existed!

You're so right on those quotes, by the way. You captured them perfectly.

Two come-ons that I hate, have subject lines with things similar to these:
- "Shhhh! This Is a Secret Sale" Right. Only I and about a million other people will be told about it.
- "We've handpicked these just for you." I'm so touched, they've selected these particular items just for me!

Yeah, I believe them (but I also believe that man going to the moon was really just an elaborate hoax).

But you are truly special to us, Dr. Drib. Really.

Yeah "we have a special deal just for you" or "we have a deal to thank you for being one of our best customers"....and I get them to 2 email address, one of which I never used when ordering stuff.

Yeah.

The ones that annoy me more, though, are the ones from non-profit organizations with generic "We need your help!" kind of subject lines, and the "From" being a human's name. I always want to delete those as SPAM - they look like phishing attempts to me. Usually I manage to see one in preview mode - and jeez, it's from the food bank or the US Holocaust Museum. Do these people not have security specialists?!

Nowhere in the Delphi email, which I also got, did it say "just for me", "or "this is a secret sale", or anything like that. It actually is pretty clear, in fact, that this is a sale aimed at anyone and everyone. I agree with the idea that an email that claims to be customized, but really isn't, is offensive, but this email from Delphi doesn't commit that sin.

I guess one could say they used a bit of hyperbole, perhaps, in saying "we just had to tell you about it", but that's what marketing folks do, and I've seen far worse. And I'm willing to forgive the bit of hyperbole, especially since I signed up for their mailing list specifically to hear about sales. In fact, I'm not quite sure what one would sign up for their mailing list for, if not to hear about sales. (Now that's my bit of hyperbole because actually, I guess, one might sign up also for info about new releases, or notifications of updates to books one already owns, which are the other types of emails Delphi sends. But I signed up for the sales, and I suspect that's why most people do.)

I'll grant that this (3 for the price of 2) isn't one of their better sales, but I'm willing to glance at and discard this one, given that some of the others are 50% off, a free title or two, etc.

IMO, Delphi does not abuse my email address, sending maybe an email or two per week, many of which (both the sale ones and the update ones) I'm interested in. And, if I had somehow signed up for their mailing list by mistake, or decided they were abusing my email address, there is an "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of every email.

Delphi Classics, who actually make quite nice IMO editions of public domain authors, with nice formatting, TOC, info about the authors, etc. They also do some art books and other stuff, but the PD collections are what I'm familiar with.

Yes, you can get a lot of what they sell from PG or other PD websites, but Delphi's titles are pretty reasonably priced, they have sales fairly often, and they have done a lot of work tracking down obscure stuff from the authors, as well as the better-known stuff.

You can, of course, also get really nicely formatted editions of many of the titles Delphi carries from the wonderful MR Patricia Clark Memorial library, totally for free. But Delphi is another good, convenient, and relatively inexpensive source for public domain works.

Delphi Classics, who actually make quite nice IMO editions of public domain authors, with nice formatting, TOC, info about the authors, etc. They also do some art books and other stuff, but the PD collections are what I'm familiar with.

Yes, you can get a lot of what they sell from PG or other PD websites, but Delphi's titles are pretty reasonably priced, they have sales fairly often, and they have done a lot of work tracking down obscure stuff from the authors, as well as the better-known stuff.

You can, of course, also get really nicely formatted editions of many of the titles Delphi carries from the wonderful MR Patricia Clark Memorial library, totally for free. But Delphi is another good, convenient, and relatively inexpensive source for public domain works.

As I am wont to do, when someone mentions an ebook, or ebook-related company, I go to the company's website to just look around. I had forgotten, but Delphi usually, if not always, has a collection of free titles, usually near the top of their homepage. There are five at the present time.

I think we all realize it's marketing hype, but that's what makes it so ridiculous and so funny. It's all hype, or'hype-talk', without one shred of originality.

Sure, I too think they make very good ebooks, but that's about all.

In the meantime, can I interest you in a two-story house located on some prime real estate? Comes with a sheltered parking garage at no extra cost. This is a limited-time offer, so act now!

That photo is too funny. Why on earth would someone do such a thing?

However, sir, I think that you are misrepresenting the property that you wish to unload, er . . . sell. Real estate agents would probably be required to call that a "one-story house." Possibly they could get by with adding, "with a two-bay carport." Beach houses with one story, but elevated on pilings, are considered 1-story houses.

Stretching the truth as you have, I might have to question your truthfulness if you offer to sell me some prime alpine meadowland here in Florida sometime.

But, you have given me an excellent idea. When I build my "tiny house," one of these days, I might just put it on pilings, to minimize the "footprint," and give me a dry place to park a vehicle, place a barbecue, maybe hang a hammock . . . .

Very observant! Makes fantastic sense. And notice that there is a boat on a trailer underneath the "second" story. Of course, boats on trailers could be anywhere, but the trailer is hitched up, as though it might be used a lot.

As I am wont to do, when someone mentions an ebook, or ebook-related company, I go to the company's website to just look around. I had forgotten, but Delphi usually, if not always, has a collection of free titles, usually near the top of their homepage. There are five at the present time.